Best jailbreak apps for iPhone

While Apple continues to improve iOS with every iteration, even with iOS 6, there are still some feature gaps left to be filled. That's where jailbreaking, like always, comes to the rescue. Whether it's actionable notifications, gesture shortcuts, faster toggles, or something else, jailbreak makes a great OS even better.

BiteSMS

BiteSMS has been around for a very long time and has been a fan favorite of many jailbreakers since it was released. Sadly, Apple still hasn't added better text message notification handling to stock iOS. A quick reply option has been one of the most requested features from the jailbreak community for years and it's a gap BiteSMS has always been able to fill.

Outside of being able to quickly reply to messages without interrupting your workflow, BiteSMS also gives you features such as quick compose, password protecting for messages, notification settings on a per contact basis, and more. If you aren't a fan of iMessage or don't have a texting plan but need a way to send messages internationally or to non-iOS users, BiteSMS also allows you to buy credits to use towards text messages. They're a lot cheaper than most carrier fees and are easy to reload and use as you wish.

NCSettings

System toggles are must haves for most power users. Things like adjusting brightness, locking rotation, toggling on and off wifi, and turning data services on and off are functions we do on a pretty regular basis. Unfortunately, under stock iOS you are forced to enter Settings, find that control, and toggle it on or off in that menu every single time.

NCSettings allows you to easily toggle on and off these basic functions straight from Notification Center. This means instead of digging in the Settings menu, swipe down and tap. That's it. There are also several add-on packages in Cydia that allow you to add toggles for almost anything you could possibly think of.

IntelliscreenX 6

Notifications have been something that iOS has struggled with over the years. While iOS 5 brought with it Notification Center which handled notifications much better than previous iterations, or rather the complete lack of a notification system, it still doesn't give fine tune control the way IntelliscreenX does.

Not only does IntelliscreenX allow you to customize what notifications you receive, how, and when; it also gives you access to things like quick replies for messages directly from the lock screen. If you're a power user or want a better hold on notifications, IntelliscreenX will put you in the driver's seat. It's worth noting that if you own a previous version of IntelliscreenX, you'll only be charged $4.99 to update to IntelliscreenX 6.

CleverPin

Passcodes are a pain but for most of us, they're a must have. Even with Find My iPhone and GPS tracking software, people steal things. The odds of you recovering them or at least protecting your data is increased when you have a passcode. For most of us, that's the reason we use them.

CleverPin makes using passcodes a little less obnoxious. The premise is that when you're at home and connected to your home network, your iPhone won't ask you for the passcode. This means when you're out at the club or on vacation, your passcode lock will remain firmly in place without you having to enable it. Once you enter your home network, you won't be badgered to enter a passcode every few minutes.

You can also change settings in CleverPin to disable the passcode lock if you're doing things like listening to music. And that makes more sense to us than having to enter a passcode just to switch to a different album or playlist.

Auxo

iOS 4 brought with it multitasking and while some may argue that it isn't true multitasking, it does just fine for most. Auxo aims to improve the current state of the multitasker by adding a preview of the current state of an app. If you've got a Safari page loading, you'll see it. If you have a specific conversation open in the texting app, you'll see it.

Once you've got Auxo installed and enabled, you'll be able to launch the multitasker just like you normally would but you'll notice previews of what each app's current state is. Beyond that, instead of holding down and having to tap each icon to remove it or close it out completely, Auxo adds swipe gestures that allow you to swipe them downwards to remove them which makes for a much smoother and enjoyable experience.

On top of a better idea of what's going on, Auxo also brings with it many system toggles you can add to the multitasker as well.

Your picks?

These are our favorite tweaks and utilities that jailbreak has to offer that we think enhance the overall experience. That certainly doesn't mean there aren't other great ones floating around out there. Share yours below!

I have a ATT 4s iphone, I jailbreak it to use other sim, however, I learned it's not enough to just jailbreak it, I need to unlock it, so I googled att iphone unlocking, picked the first one, payed 30 bucks and unlocked it in 3 hours, faster than what I did for jailbreaking... But, I miss the good old times that smart phone doesn't even exist, seems like there was so many other things we can do without electronics, but nowadays, we can't live without it.

I bought an iphone from states, and it was locked to ATT as well, googled ATT iphone unlocking, and the site that unlocked mine was attiphoneunlocking.com. At least mine was unlocked and able to use other sim in Poland.

NoNewsIsGoodNews, to hide that "Newsstand" app that refuses to be put into a folder. Free.
ShowCase, to show the current state of Caps on the individual keys. Free.
MapsOpener, to shunt calls to the Maps.app to Google Maps, if Google Maps is installed. Free.
Browser Changer, to launch your preferred web browser instead of Safari from links in other programs including "Open in Safari" share commands. Free.

I have jailbroken since 2007 but as Apple have closed more vuln's and jailbreaks have taken longer, I have got to the stage in the last couple of years where-by I don't think the value of jailbreak is greater than staying behind iOS versions for several months at a time.
The apps mentioned above are some of the best in the jailbreak community but unfortunately are quite frankly not significant enough anymore!
BiteSMS is getting less and less important and its bad enough that jailbreaks can take several months these days without some dev's like the IntelliscreenX dev ripping faithful customers off for upgrades when they thought they'd already bought an app !

So, you don't think that a dev is entitled to continue to get paid for their continued work? "Oh, well, Mr Ford Dealer, I had already purchased a Ford Fusion four years ago, so you should just give me the new one for free", right?

Hardly the same, the developer is not providing materials/parts.
If they are spending a significant amount of time adding features to the product, a nominal amount would be justified, but this developer is not doing that!
They have a certain amount of responsibility to provide a functioning product across OS versions or make it clear at the outset that anyone buying MyWi for iOS 5 will not necessarily have a functioning product on future iOS versions without additional costs.
Most developers provide ongoing core product functionality at no cost and only ask for more when they add more (not just make it keep working as it did/should!)

It is the same. Not providing any parts is why the app costs $10 rather than $10,000.
If you don't think the new version is worth the cost of the upgrade price, then don't upgrade. It is that simple. Though you do have a point regarding basic maintenance updates for device compatibility when there are no added features.

IMO, one of the worst things from the App Store is that it has fostered a mentality of "buy it once forever". I have some apps in my library that I purchased almost six years ago, that have undergone several major upgrades at no cost to me. One or two of which I would have gladly paid an upgrade cost for if the App Store had been set up that way. (Though, in actual fact, I did pay for one of those apps a total of four times in the past 8 years as I moved from one platform to another.)

Well technically its not the same because the point I was making is your original analogy was comparing a sale of a product that would require a company providing physical items that would cost them to buy and pass them on for nothing and that can't be used as a comparison.
I'm not an un-fair person, added functionality and a nominal upgrade cost to keep your original customers happy is not un-reasonable, but squeezing extra money from said customers to carry on using the product as-is amounts to a stealth subscription service.

I'm not even complaining for myself here, I don't own or never intend to buy MyWi, I'm just standing up for the people that have because I always thought the app was over-priced and their upgrade pricing just strike's me of tad greedy.
MyWi is already 400% - 600% more expensive that most app's without those people having to pay an upgrade fee (again more than most apps in itself) to carry on using it!?

Sharing your iPhone's cellular data connection is core functionality already built into iOS called "Personal Hotspot". It just so happens that many carriers restrict the feature on the phone through the carrier.plist bundle.
Personally, I just hacked the carrier.plist to re-enable the function. Its easily done in 5 mins.
I don't need to use it often enough to justify buying a 3rd party app to achieve the same results and if there was no jailbreak, I would barely miss the feature anyway!

'Well technically its not the same because the point I was making is your original analogy was comparing a sale of a product that would require a company providing physical items that would cost them to buy and pass them on for nothing and that can't be used as a comparison."

It is the same, or at least close enough. There may be no material costs in the manufacturing or delivery of the product, but there is still the time and effort put in by the designer(s). That skill and knowledge is what makes a product, whether it's a fifty thousand dollar car or a five dollar smartphone app.

But, since it appears you missed it earlier, once you clarified that the update in question is merely a maintenance update for device/OS compatibility with no new features, I agree that it should not be a paid upgrade. To continue the car analogy, that should be akin to a warranty fix.

Curious: How does that differ from normal audio alert notifications? When a call comes in, my phone rings. When a text comes in, my phone rings a different tone. When an email comes in, my phone is silent because I set it that way. Doesn't matter if it's raining or sunny out, or if I'm playing music, a game, or it's just sitting in my pocket.

I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Flex! $1.99 to be able to easily create your own tweaks or download submitted ones from the cloud for tons of apps. Hands down the best tweak I've gotten in years of jailbreaking.

I've owned every iteration of iPhone and iPad. I've never jail'broken' before. Seems like its a pretty easy process...and these apps mentioned above, very compelling. I may just try it out this weekend!
Thanks guys/gals!

I think I've switched from iPhone for the last time for a little while. Sticking with the Galaxy Note 2 until the Galaxy S4 comes out...if it's worth giving up the 5.5 display and the S-pen. I've never been one to hack my phones. I jailbroke one of my iPhones in the past, and it wasn't worth the "risk" of bricking the phone in my opinion. I don't have to worry about that with stock ice cream sandwich or jellybean/Touchwiz that does everything that I need. I really hope to see Apple get with the program. I rather enjoyed the variation of switching back and forth between Apple and Android. As long as I keep an ipad handy, there is no need for that any longer.

Just do a device restore from iTunes and jailbreak is gone, with no one except you knowing. If the problem persists, then you know it's not a jailbreak issue and you're conscious-free to seek warranty work.

I believe you. But, the last time that I checked, there's always the spook disclaimer on the jailbreak tool as well. I'm sure that everything that I've been saying amounts to "things people have to say", but that only means that there is is a real risk...however big or small. Neither the need nor reward is there for me to quantify and accept whatever risk that there may be. I'm that guy that always finds out the hard way...the one that the disclaimer was written for because I got a bad unit from production. Lol.

I love BiteSMS, just for the quick reply feature. Unfortunately I had to uninstall it. I was continually frustrated that because I chose not to buy the app, and use the ad supported version, every time I opened it, I had to wait 10 seconds for it to check my license, then click okay after it verified I didn't have a license.

Is there a way to disable the app from checking for a license every time I open it? Someone please help, I miss my quick reply!!

for me, the only reason to jailbreak originally was the fact that apple will not allow a call blocking app in it's app store, whereas blackberry, android, and windows all have several different call blocking apps to choose from, so i-blacklist for me is the must have cannot do without cydia app. I feel that I have a right to block any number or text message that I want to and it should not be apples business to stop me, so as long as a jailbreak is available for what ever iphone model I won, then I will continue to jailbreak and use cydia for this very important can't live without app, and if a jailbreak is not available when upgrading to a new iphone, then it is back to blackberry or android so I can have a call blocking app, which by the way, works 100%.

Swipeselection is awesome and free. It allows you to scroll the cursor back and forth by swiping across the keyboard. Great for when you wanna go back. I don't know why apple hasn't stolen this tweak yet!

Scale has to be one of my favorite tweaks for music. It allows you to add a song to a playlist from your now playing screen, as well as sharing with others which includes Facebook, Twitter, Email and SMS. Another great one for music is Music Control Pro which lets you control your music right from your notification center.

Thank you all for the information. I use iphone 4 and am looking for 2 things:
-How do I get switch app into the notification center ? So I don't have to push the home button twice when I need to switch between apps.
-I want my phone to sound an alarm once its fully charged. What should I install ?